BREAKING: Clark County Sheriff Meeting with Bundy Family This Weekend

As the stand-off between the Bundy Ranch and the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) heads into its second week in Bunkerville, Nevada, the first signs of life have been detected from the absent local Sheriff’s office.

IMAGE: Rancher Cliven Bundy and Sheriff Gillespie.

A GMN report from the Bundy Ranch this evening has confirmed that a meeting has been scheduled between Clark County SheriffDouglas C. Gillespie and embattled rancher Cliven Bundy early Saturday morning.

Bundy is fighting to preserve his herd which his family has grazed on the historic land since the 1800’s. Following a 20 year battle with the US Federal government, the BLM moved in to occupy the area at the beginning of April with 200 mostly armed agents under a court order from the Federal Envirnmental Protection Agency (EPA) who claim the cattle need to be cleared from public land in order to protect an endangered desert tortoise. Critics say the EPA’s claims are spurious at best, and at worst fraudulent.

Bundy had previous called publicly for Sheriff Gillespie to start arresting BLM agents for stealing his prize cattle herd, as the federal agents work overtime to clear public lands of all Bundy livestock. Once the cattle have been seized by the BLM, healthy animals are reported as being transported out of Nevada to auction house in either California or Utah. The BLM have been accused of killing cows and disposing of them, but as access is restricted to the federally occupied public lands, no independent observers have been allowed to verify what is actually happening.

From Friday evening, many more additional supporters have arrived at the Riverside camps adjacent to the Bundy Ranch. Since Thursday, arrivals have been filtering into four separate camps – a diverse group of at least 500 supporters from over 40 different states, now staying on site. Numbers are expected to more than double on Saturday and Sunday.

Federal security overkill continues however, as agents could be seen stationed on the ridge overlooking the campsite conducting 24 hour surveillance on Bundy supporters.

Cell Tower Rumours

A number of internet rumours were circulating Friday, including some bogus Tweets claiming that ‘cell phone towers have been shut down’ around the area of the Bundy Ranch. According to the Bundy household and campers on site, normal cell coverage continued all Friday – including a number of independent live video streams which were broadcast from the campsite via Verizon cellphone. Organisers believe some rumours have been designed to discourage new supporters from traveling to the Bundy Ranch.